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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




DEATH OF ANANIAS. 



THE STORY 



OF 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 



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BY WILLIAM A. ALCOTT. 



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REVISED BYTHE EDITOR, 
D, P. KIDDER, 




NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY G. LANE & C. B. TIPPETT, 

FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 

CHURCH, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. 



/. Collord f Printer. 
1844. 









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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by 
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Court of the Southern District of New -York. 







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PREFACE. 



Some may think that the story of 
Ananias and Sapphira is exclusively 
adapted to the instruction of adults, 
and that to direct the attention of 
children to it is a mistake in judgment. 
But I think quite otherwise. I am 
fully confident that a careful perusal 
of the following account of their sad 
fall, and terrible punishment, will lead 
to the conviction that its warnings are 
designed by the Holy Spirit for all 
who are old enough to distinguish 
right from wrong ; and that to all 
such individuals, however young, the 
story will be found profitable. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Who Ananias and Sappkira were ... 9 
IL Ananias and Sapphira sell their property, 11 

III. Keeping back part of the price, ... 14 

IV. The punishment, ......... 16 

V. Nature of Ananias and Safphira's crime, 28 

VL Concurrence in crime, 39 

VIL Special guilt of Sapphira, 42 

VIIL Hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, . . 53 

IX. Satanic agency, 57 

X. Resisting the devil, 61 

XL Effects of the punishment of Ananias 

and Sapphira 67 



THE STORY 



OF 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

CHAPTER I. 

WHO ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA WERE. 

The Bible mentions several per- 
sons by the name of Ananias. Among 
these are Ananias a high-priest, Ana- 
nias of Damascus, and Ananias the 
husband of Sapphira. The last is the 
most remarkable. 

Ananias, the husband of Sapphira, 
was one of the first five thousand 
Christian believers ; and next to Judas 
the first known hypocrite and apostate. 
He appears to have resided at or near 
Jerusalem, and to have been a man 



10 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

of some distinction among his brethren 
the Jews. 

What his occupation was, is not so 
certain. Some of his possessions we 
know consisted of land; but this does 
not by any means prove him to have 
been a landholder or farmer, according 
to our modern notions of farming. 
Small portions of land, only just large 
enough to set a house upon, are sold 
every day in our large cities, not by 
farmers, but by speculators, and in- 
deed by almost all sorts of persons. 

I have represented Ananias as being 
a Jew. How is it known, the reader 
may perhaps ask, that he was a Jew 
rather than a Gentile, since there were 
many Gentiles living at Jerusalem? 
My reply will be this. 

Because the gospel was first preach- 
ed to the Jews, and no Gentile was 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 11 

considered as having any concern with 
it. Had Ananias and Sapphira been 
Gentiles, the circumstance of their 
conversion would have been mention- 
ed, as that of Cornelius, the Roman 
centurion, was. 

Some few conjectures will be men- 
tioned hereafter concerning the cha- 
racter of these remarkable associates 
in crime : for the present we will pro- 
ceed with their singular history. 



CHAPTER II. 

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA SELL THEIR PROPERTY. 

Among the twelve apostles of Christ 
was one traitor, Judas Iscariot. Is it 
then to be wondered at, that among the 
first five thousand disciples there were 
two more who made false professions, 
Ananias and Sapphira? Is it not a 



12 ANANIAS AND SAPPHLRA. 

wonder rather that more are not men- 
tioned ? 

At this early period of the history 
of Christianity it was customary for 
the disciples to sell a part or all of 
their property, and put it in a common 
treasury, for the relief of those who 
had nothing, or who had less than 
themselves. This holding property 
in common began, it would seem, 
with the travelling companions of 
Christ, of whom Judas was the trea- 
surer or depositor. 

The friends or acquaintances of the 
hypocritical Ananias and Sapphira 
were selling their property of various 
kinds, to be deposited in a public trea- 
sury; and Ananias, who wished to put 
on every external mark of discipleship, 
sold his. 

We are not indeed told that he sold 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 13 

all he had. The Bible only says, he 
" sold a possession." It may have been 
a small estate ; it may have been a 
large one. It may have been all he 
owned in the world ; or it may have 
been a part only. From the tenor of 
the story, however, I am inclined to 
believe he sold all that he had, at least 
all he had of landed estate. 

The money which he received, in 
conformity with the custom which 
then prevailed, was, in the language 
of the Bible, "laid at the apostles' 
feet," by which is meant, that it was 
placed at their disposal. They were 
the treasurers ; and they were worthy 
to be so. Perhaps the terrible fall of 
Judas had taught the first converts to 
Christianity the danger of trusting 
men known to be covetous with the 
property of others. 



14 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

Of the extent of the possessions 
Ananias parted with not a word is 
said, nor is it important we should 
know. The facts which are brought 
out concerning him are the same, and 
the lessons of instruction to us are the 
same, whether he parted with hun- 
dreds, thousands, or millions. 



CHAPTER III. 

KEEPING BACK PART OF THE PRICE. 

I have said that Ananias brought 
the money for which he sold his land, 
and placed it in the public treasury 
kept by the apostles. But I have 
gone a little too fast, for he only 
brought a part of it. How great a 
part does not appear, perhaps it was a 
very small part. 

The deceit which he attempted to 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 15 

practise in this transaction was a great 
sin, as will appear in the next chapter, 
and as we know from the consequen- 
ces which followed. Whether the 
sum retained was great or small made 
not so much difference ; the spirit 
which was manifested was not the 
spirit of Christ, it was the spirit of 
Judas, and of his instigator, Satan. 

Suppose, if the supposition is a fair 
one, that Christ himself had sold the 
land ; or if we find it difficult to think 
of the Saviour as having anything to 
do with property, suppose it was Peter, 
or John, or James, or Andrew. Do 
you believe, can you for a single mo- 
ment believe, that either of these men 
would have kept back part of the price 
of land which they had sold, and pre- 
tended that a part of it was the whole ? 

But Ananias did this, and did it 



16 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

boldly. He persisted, moreover, when 
an inquiry was made by Peter, in the 
assertion that he had done right, and 
that he had really brought the whole 
sum of money which he had received 
for the land. His wife joined with him 
in his wickedness, and was not long 
separated from him in his punishment. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PUNISHMENT. 

Sudden death always shocks us; 
and it was no doubt the intention of 
Divine Providence that it should do so. 
To the young, however, it is more 
shocking, much more so, than to those 
who have lived longer in the world. 

When I was less than four years 
and a half old, a neighbour of my 
father — a schoolmaster — in felling 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. IT 

a tree, was suddenly crushed under it 
The news spread immediately; and I 
saw the discoloured body. The im- 
pression made then has never been 
effaced, nor would it be if I w-ere to 
live half a century longer. 

Another neighbour, sitting in his 
chair, before the fire-place, just at the 
close of a thunder shower, was struck 
dead, in an instant, with the lightning. 
This scene of sudden death, too, I 
shall remember as long as I live. 

Sudden death from anger and other 
mental causes is by no means un- 
common. Several great, I will not 
say good, men, whom I could name, 
have fallen and died in an instant, 
when under the influence of violent 
anger. The heart, or some large 
blood-vessel, or a sack of blood formed 

by the bursting of a vessel some time 

2 



18 ANANIAS AND SAPFHIRA. 

before, suddenly gives way ; and the 
person is, in a moment, in eternity. 

We often hear it said that such or 
such a person fell dead while in per- 
fect health. This is seldom, if ever, 
strictly true, except in cases of mere 
accident. That miracles have some- 
times been wrought to take away the 
lives of those who were in perfect 
health, no one will dispute ; and it is 
certainly possible that such things 
sometimes happen in these days. 

But in general, when people drop 
dead in a moment, there is a natural 
cause for it. Some internal, deep- 
seated organ was diseased, and may 
have been so a long time. It may be 
one organ or part, it may be another. 
Even when people die suddenly from 
anger, or any other passion, there is 
usually some weak vessel or part 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 19 

which the violence of the mental 
emotion causes to give way. 

But I was to speak in this chapter 
of the punishment of Ananias and 
Sapphira. They appear to have been 
in health at the time of which we are 
speaking. They could buy and sell, 
and contrive ; and with the rest, 
contrive mischief. They could put 
their heads together to do evil ; as if, 
because no human eye saw them, it 
would not be found out. 

But they are suspected by Peter, 
and he declares his suspicion. Not, 
indeed, publicly, or to others ; but 
privately, as it would seem, to the 
parties themselves. More, in truth, 
might be said : Peter most evidently 
knew they were guilty. He must 
have had a revelation directly from 
God on the subject. 



20 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

"Ananias," said Peter, "why hath 
Satan filled thine heart to lie to the 
Holy Ghost, and to keep back part 
of the price of the land?" This was 
leaving to Ananias no room or time 
for evasion or excuse. It was charg- 
ing him so strongly with crime, that 
the guilty man sunk down at once 
under it, and expired. 

"He fell down," says the histo- 
rian Luke, "and gave up the ghost." 
Ghost in the Bible often means spirit, 
and this is its meaning here. He gave 
up that spirit which Solomon says 
must return, at the dissolution of the 
body, to the God who gave it. A 
dreadful meeting; the meeting of such 
a spirit as that of Ananias with a God 
of infinite purity, and exact and equal 
justice. 

Though Sapphira, the wife of Ana- 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 21 

nias, was accessory to the wicked 
deed, as it soon appeared, there is no 
evidence that anybody knew it up to 
this time, "unless it were Peter, and 
He w r ho revealed to him these terrible 
facts. She was not with her husband 
when he came into the house where 
Peter was ; and, for anything which 
appears, was utterly ignorant for three 
hours of what had happened. 

Meanwhile, the affrighted multi- 
tude, by the hands of their young 
men, had wound up the body, as too 
offensive in the sight of God to be 
permitted to he long on the surface 
of the earth, and hastily buried it. 
This transaction took much of the 
time above-mentioned, at the expira- 
tion of which Sapphira came in. 

To her, Peter put at once the heart- 
searching question, * Tell me whether 



22 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

ye sold the land for so much?" viz., 
for the sum which Ananias had 
brought to the treasury. She replied 
in the affirmative, 'Tea, for so much." 
Then said Peter, " How is it that ye 
have agreed together to tempt the 
Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet 
of them which have buried thy hus- 
band are at the door, and shall carry 
thee out." 

And as Peter predicted, so it came 
to pass. The young men at that mo- 
ment arrived, and Sapphira in the 
same instant had fallen to rise no 
more. " The young men came in, 
and found her dead, and, carrying her 
forth, buried her by her husband." 

Surely it was a day of terrible 
things at Jerusalem! Surely there 
was a good reason why fear should 
fall upon all who saw and heard. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 23 

Was it not enough that Jesus the in- 
nocent should be crucified, and that 
there should be darkness, and an 
earthquake, and the resurrection of 
departed saints and prophets ? Was 
it not enough that to these awful 
scenes should be added the suicidal 
act of Judas ; and an unholy attempt 
to turn the maddened and infuriated 
mob against the peaceable John and 
the unoffending Peter 1 Must there 
be such abominable hypocrisy, such 
high-handed treason to the King of 
heaven, that in the divine plan it was 
necessary to strike dead the traitors 
in an instant ? 

A recent commentator on the Acts, 
endeavours to show that there may 
and must have been a divine interpo- 
sition here ; yet it is by no means im- 
probable that God may have made 



24 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

use of natural means or agencies at 
every step of the process of retribution. 
He says: "It has occurred in other 
cases that the consciousness of crime, 
or the fact of being suddenly detected, 
has given such a shock to the frame 
that it has never recovered from it. 
It is not at all improbable that the 
shock, in the case of Ananias, was so 
great as at once to take away his life.' 7 
If these views were correct, and if 
they were equally applicable, as no 
doubt they would be, to the case of 
his wife, it would by no means lessen 
the oceasion for belief in a miraculous 
agency; for could Peter, as has been 
before intimated, have such a know- 
ledge of secret things as he must have 
had, both in the case of Ananias and 
Sapphira, as unhesitatingly to charge 
them with guilt of the deepest dye? 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 25 

Still more, how could he dare, on 
natural principles alone, to fortell the 
results in the case with such boldness ! 
Was Peter accustomed to such un- 
blushing, such wicked impudence, as 
to charge on his fellow-men, from 
bare conjecture, such heinous crimes? 

We may be well assured that here 
was a direct interposition of the Being 
who will not suifer guilt unrepented 
of to go unpunished. These sudden 
inflictions were only a part, a begin- 
ning, of the punishment. Ananias and 
Sapphira still live : death did not 
extinguish the light of their immortal 
spirits, though these spirits dwell in 
darkness. 

How can people be found who read 
the Bible carefully, and yet believe 
that all our punishment falls upon us 
in this life ? Does death make any 



26 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

change in the disposition ? Were not 
Ananias and Sapphira possessed of the 
same ungodly character on waking in 
the eternal world, which they carried 
out of the world in which they had 
lived? What should change them 
but miracle? Yet, would a miracle 
be wrought in one moment to make 
their names a terror to evil doers, and, 
in the next, another to purify their 
spirits, and fit them for the immediate 
presence of the King of kings and 
Lord of lords ? 

There have been those who have 
laid much blame on Peter in this 
transaction. They have said that, 
knowing the laws of the human mind, 
and the power of fear, he contrived to 
make such an impression upon the 
young couple, as at once extinguished 
life. Others have said that they 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 27 

fainted, and were by Peter's orders 
buried alive. 

My answer to all this has in part 
been given. Peter was either an 
entirely different man from what he 
had been before, as desperately reck- 
less as he had before been honest 
and confiding, though sometimes va- 
cillating ; or he must have been moved 
and taught by the direct agency of 
the Holy Spirit. In the former case, 
he must have been as successful as 
he was wicked. He must, moreover, 
on the same supposition, have become 
wicked very suddenly, and must have 
changed back again with almost equal 
rapidity. 

The trujth is, Peter, whatever else 
he may have been, was honest and 
artless ; the last person in the world 
to lay a plot for deceiving others, 



28 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

He was under the guidance of God in 
the matter of Ananias and Sapphira, 
and not acting a part of his own; and 
he knew it, and governed himself 
accordingly. 



CHAPTER V. 

NATURE OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA'S CRIME. 

We have seen that Ananias and 
Sapphira came to a most sudden and 
miserable death, and that this death 
must have been the consequence of 
a miraculous interposition of divine 
Providence. Now then, what was 
the crime which merited, at the hands 
of a holy God, such a terrible punish- 
ment ? 

It was not, most clearly, that they 
kept back part of the money for which 
they sold their land, for Peter himself 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 29 

says, " After it was sold, was it not in 
thine own power?" Customary as it 
had become with these warm-hearted 
Christians of the first century to sell 
whatsoever they had, and have all 
things common, they were nowhere 
directly required to do it. 

True, the young man mentioned in 
the tenth chapter of Mark was re- 
quired by the Saviour to sell all his 
possessions, and give away the avails; 
but this was evidently designed as a 
special test of the condition of the 
young man's heart, and not as a rule 
of conduct to be followed by other 
believers. 

In truth, it is not certain that these 
first followers of Christ, with all their 
love and zeal, did, in every instance, 
give up all their possessions, and have 
all things in common, I know it is 



30 ANANIAS AND SAPPH1RA. 

often thought so, but the fact cannot, 
as I think, be proved. 

The first and most striking case of 
having a community of property is that 
of the very family, so to call it, of our 
Saviour. They seem, at first, to have 
had all their property in common 
stock ; and to have made Judas, who 
loved to be concerned in money mat- 
ters, their treasurer. Yet Peter, for 
some time after he was called to the 
apostleship, appears to have had pro- 
perty at Capernaum; and John, at the 
crucifixion of the Saviour, evidently 
had his "own home/' at Jerusalem; 
and there are other things of the same 
general import. 

And then, in the second case, im- 
mediately after the remarkable out- 
pouring of the Spirit, and conversion 
of three thousand people, on the day 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 31 

of Pentecost, when " all that believed 
were together, and had all things in 
common; and sold their possessions 
and goods, and parted them to all 
men, as every man had need," it is 
very far from being certain that every 
one of them sold everything. 

Let us look closely at what is said. 
Who were they that "sold their pos- 
sessions and goods?" Were they not 
"all who believed?" Who w T ere they 
that had " all things common? " Were 
they not most certainly the same per- 
sons? Who were they that "parted 
them to all men," not in equal pro- 
portion, nor at once, perhaps, but "as 
every man had need?" Can there 
be a doubt that they w r ere the same 
persons still? 

Finally, when it is said, in connec- 
tion with the story of Ananias and 



32 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

Sapphira, that "the multitude of them 
— the five thousand — who believed, 
were of one heart and one soul, 
neither said any of them that aught 
of the things which he possessed was 
his own, but they had all things com- 
mon;" and that "neither was there 
any among them that lacked, for as 
many as were possessors of lands or 
houses sold them, and brought the 
prices of the things that were sold, 
and laid them down at the apostles' 
feet ; and distribution was made unto 
every man according as he had need," 
— the argument remains the same. 
There is no proof that the property of 
every individual was all sold, nor the 
shadow of a proof that all was dis- 
tributed in such a way that no one 
had more than the rest. 

I dwell longer on this point because 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 33 

there are a numerous class, in our 
days, who not only insist on the use- 
fulness of having all property in com- 
mon stock; but also the necessity of 
having it so. % They say the spirit, and 
some say the letter, of Christianity 
requires it; and the latter point to 
these passages which I have quoted 
from Acts for proof 

With this new sect, so to call it, 
the young all over the face of society 
will become familiar. It cannot be 
otherwise. I do not say it is desirable 
to have it otherwise, if we could. 
But I do say that when the claim is 
set up by them that they occupy 
Christian ground in this particular, 
and the charge made against profes- 
sors of Christianity that by holding 
property as individuals they have 

abandoned the first principles of the 

3 



_ f 

34 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 

early disciples of Christ, the truth 
ought to be known. 

The crime, then, for which Ananias 
and Sapphira were smitten, did not 
consist in withholding their property, 
for they sold it; nor merely in with- 
holding a part of it, for they had a 
perfect right to withhold any part of 
it, or even the whole, if they chose to 
do so. " Religion does not," as a com- 
mentator well says, "contemplate that 
men should break up all the arrange- 
ments in society ; but it contemplates 
that those who have property should 
be ready and willing to part with it 
for the help of the poor and needy." 

Nor did the crime of Ananias and 
Sapphira consist merely in their telling 
a falsehood about the matter. I mean 
to say, that the peculiar heinousness 
of their crime did not consist in this. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 35 

"Thou hast not lied unto men/' said 
Peter, "but unto God." What does 
he mean to say here ? Not that they 
had not told a lie surely, for they cer- 
tainly had. Not that lying to men 
was not wrong, for the Bible through- 
out condemns it. Our Saviour speaks 
of the Jews as being like Satan, and 
as being his children peculiarly, be- 
cause they were liars. What then, I 
say again, did Peter mean when he 
said, "Thou hast not lied unto men?" 

Dr. Doddridge's exposition of the 
passage is as follows : " Thou hast 
not lied to men alone, to us, or to the 
church, whose treasurers we are; 
but to the blessed God himself, who, 
residing in us by his divine Spirit, is 
determined to make thee a terrible 
example of his displeasure." 

Here, if Dr. Doddridge is correct, 



36 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

and I have no doubt of his correct- 
ness, is the secret cause of the dreadful 
exhibition of God's power and justice 
in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. 
It was not that they withheld a part of 
their property, for they had a right to 
withhold all, or any part of it, or of 
its avails, after they had sold it. Nor 
was it that they had told a deliberate 
and wicked falsehood, bad as this 
crime was in itself considered. But 
they had lied to God, they had tempted 
or tried his Holy Spirit, and herein 
was their great guilt. Whosoever 
speaketh against the Holy Ghost — 
and, by parity of reasoning, tempts or 
tries the divine Spirit — commits a 
heinous crime in the sight of God. 

I do not, of course, undertake to say 
that it was for this sin alone that they 
were smitten. A boy at school may 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 37 

be punished for gross profanity. Be- 
fore swearing he had, indeed, hurt 
one of his companions very carelessly. 
On being spoken to, he had denied it; 
on being reasoned with because he 
told a lie about it, he had broken out 
into the most terrible oaths. The 
teacher, unwilling to let matters go 
on thus, punishes him severely. Not 
for injuring his companion slightly, 
nor for telling a lie. Lying is indeed 
greatly wrong in the sight of God; 
but for this, had he stopped here, and 
been duly humble, he might have been 
forgiven. But he went further, and 
swore most wickedly, and his measure 
of guilt was now full, and his punish- 
ment could be delayed no longer. He 
is punished for swearing, chiefly; and 
yet I should not dare to say that he is 
not punished more severely than if, in 



38 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

addition to his swearing, he had not 
told a falsehood, or done violence to 
his neighbour. 

I might cite also the more striking 
case of Peter, at and near the close 
of his divine Master's life. He had 
in the first place, in a cowardly man- 
ner, run away from him. Then, in 
addition, he denied him; that is, de- 
nied that he knew him. He denied 
him the second time ; nay, even the 
third time. The last denial was ac- 
companied by an oath. It was now 
that the eye of Jesus was turned to- 
ward him, and Peter wept. He was 
grieved, doubtless, for the last act, the 
third denial and the oath, as this was 
a more grossly wicked act than any of 
the rest; and yet I suppose he thought 
of the whole, repented of the whole, 
and was pardoned for the whole. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 39 

Something like this, most undoubt- 
edly, was the condition of Ananias 
and Sapphira. Though the guilt of 
lying to the Holy Ghost was the act of 
deepest dye, yet their whole course of 
conduct in relation to the whole matter 
was as base as baseness could be ; and 
it appears to me always, that it was 
for the whole that they were punished. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONCURRENCE IN CRIME. 

With regard to the guilt of Ananias 
and Sapphira, I might say much more 
than I have said, and still be very far 
from exhausting the subject Among 
the particulars that need further con- 
sideration, is the fact of their concur- 
rence in the performance of the same 
wicked act. Had either of them sin- 



40 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

ned alone, the case would have been 
greatly different. Not that their guilt 
is ever over rated, even when we do 
not take- this circumstance into the 
account, for it were scarcely possible. 
AH I mean to say is, that however 
deep their guilt without it, this cir- 
cumstance renders it still more so. 
For when two persons join hand in 
hand to commit a crime, there m every 
reason for supposing they have re- 
flected on the subject, more or Iess 7 
instead of plunging headlong into the 
vortex of guilt in the heat of excite- 
ment or passion. There is reason for 
suspecting there may be more or less 
of what is sometimes called "malice 
aforethought" in the matter. 

Here were two heads put together 
to devise mischief, and two pairs of 
hands found persevering to carry out 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 41 

the work of mischief their heads had 
devised. Nor is it, as it might have 
been, the result of excitement in any 
degree, for several days had in all 
probability elapsed before the deed of 
wickedness which they had unitedly 
consummated was discovered. 

The partaker or receiver of stolen 
goods is often regarded as equally bad 
with the thief. But here, in the case 
of Ananias and Sapphira, was some- 
thing more than all this. They were 
not only both accessories in the crime, 
but both, from the nature of the case, 
principals ; and what I am to show 
now is, that the guilt of each was 
greatly increased by their thus acting 
together, and encouraging each other. 
But this will appear more clearly when 
we consider, for a moment, the pecu- 
liar guilt of Sapphira. 



42 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, 



CHAPTER VII. 

SPECIAL GUILT OF SAPPHIRA. 

I know not but some persons who 
have read the story of Ananias and 
Sapphira may have greatly pitied 
Sapphira, and regarded her as suffer- 
ing more on account of the sins of her 
husband than for her own transgres- 
sions. For how-, say they, could the 
wife have avoided being connected 
with her husband in the sin for which 
both were so suddenly destroyed ? 

This question would have more 
force were it not for the fact that Sap- 
phira, in the present instance, entirely 
accorded in the fraudulent views and 
interests of her husband. This is more 
than probable from the mere state- 
ment — "his wife also being privy to 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 43 

it." But we have positive testimony 
on the subject. 

When Peter came to charge Sap- 
phira with guilt, he said, "How is it 
that ye have agreed together to tempt 
the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter here 
takes for granted that she not only 
assented to the fraud of her husband, 
but was voluntary in it — agreed to it. 

This settles the question of her 
guilt, at least if we admit, as we 
already have done, that Peter had a 
revelation on this subject. More than 
this, however; her guilt in the transac- 
tion, if God had anything to do with 
it in a miraculous way, was esta- 
blished by her doom. 

With these views, our pity for 
Sapphira, our sympathy with her, I 
mean, as an ignorant sufferer, will 
probably soon subside. For though 



44 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

we may have pity for the worst of 
criminals, yet is the feeling greatly 
modified when we come to know that 
they are greatly guilty. And the guilt 
of Sapphira, we may rest assured, was 
of this last description. 

The guilt of the husband and wife, 
who, in the commission of great 
crimes, act in concert, will appear 
more plainly when we consider the 
nature of true friendship, especially 
that of a wife, mother, or sister. 

No true friend who is virtuous will 
encourage another in doing that which 
is known to be wrong. Sapphira, 
therefore, if she knew the transaction 
was fraudulent, should, as a true 
friend, such as the marriage connec- 
tion would imply, have dissuaded 
her husband from persisting in it ; and, 
above all, should not have joined him 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 45 

in it. If she could not succeed in her 
endeavours to make him change his 
purpose, she ought, at least, to have 
done her best to do so. 

Is it asked, how we know that she 
did not do her best? I answer, We 
know it from the whole tenor of the 
story. We know it particularly from 
Peter's interrogatories, and from the 
punishment which fell upon her — her 
sudden destruction from the presence 
of her friends and acquaintances, and, 
as we have reason to believe, from 
the presence of the Lord, and from 
the glory of his power. 

But we know it also by inference. 
Had Sapphira been a good, but mis- 
guided woman, Ananias would hardly 
have dared propose to her his pur- 
pose. Is there not at least room to 
suspect the character of a wife to 



46 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

whom her husband dares propose 
a scheme of hypocrisy and fraud- 
fraud, too, of the most awful kind, 
fraud against Heaven ? 

But again. We have great reason 
to fear for the character of Sapphira 
as it existed prior to this action, from 
what may be called her brazen-faced 
manner. Notice, for example, her 
reply to Peter's question, " Tell me 
whether ye sold the land for so much?" 
She said, " Yea, for so much." 

I have called the words of Peter 
here a question, but they have more 
the aspect of a command. Consider 
the character of Peter. He was now, 
according to the general belief, a very 
old man, and a sort of leader — partly, 
as I suppose, on account of his age — 
among his brethren, the apostles and 
Christians. To whom, at this time, 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 47 

did they look up with reverence — so 
far at least as the reverence of a hu- 
man being was to be justified — if not 
to Peter? 

Now suppose the case of a modest 
woman. Grant that she has been 
drawn, partly by conjugal authority, 
and partly otherwise, into some fraud- 
ulent scheme of her husband. She 
is suddenly and boldly addressed by 
a venerable chief magistrate, as Peter 
addressed Sapphira. Tell me, now, 
is the thing so, or so, as your husband 
states it to be ? She is reduced to the 
dreadful alternative, I know, of either 
telling a gross falsehood, or of ex- 
posing her husband. The latter she 
may not be willing to do ; the former 
she attempts. 

But will there be no misgiving? 
Will there be no faltering of the voice ? 



48 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

Will there be no lowering of the up- 
per eye-lid? Will there not even be 
a slight redness of the face ; not, per- 
haps, quite amounting to a blush, but 
yet very obvious ? Will she look up 
boldly, and answer, "Yes?" 

It is an old maxim, and a true one, 
that 

" A shameless woman is the worst of men." 

And if a woman could be found, in a 
case like that I have supposed above, 
who would make unblushingly an af- 
firmative, a shameless, reply, it would 
be in my view little less than positive 
proof of her debased character. 

And yet all this, and even more, 
was the answer of the wretched Sap- 
phira. Do you ask, what more could 
be added to the dark catalogue ? Sap- 
phira not only said yes, but, without 
the least apparent hesitation, repeated 



— ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 49 

over what Peter had before said. 
" Tell me whether ye sold the land 
for so much?' said Peter. That is, as 
I understand it, for the sum before 
mentioned, perhaps specifying it. She 
replied, "Yea, for so much;" that is, 
for the sum mentioned by Peter, what- 
ever it may have been. Suppose 
Peter said, Tell me whether you sold 
the land for a thousand shekels of 
silver? her reply substantially was, 
Yes, we sold it for a thousand shekels 
of silver. 

Now then, I say again, that there 
is not one woman in a thousand, if, 
indeed, one in ten thousand, who can 
in such a case make such a brazen- 
faced reply. The whole evidence 
then is in favour of the belief, that 
her action in the matter was in ac- 
cordance with the spontaneous feel- 



50 ANANIAS AND S'APPHIKA, 

ings of her own heart, and neither 
extorted by fear nor excited by the 
love of her husband. 

Had Sapphira been what she should 
have been, a virtuous woman, and the 
true friend of Ananias, she might at 
least have expostulated with him on 
the guilt of fraud in the sight of God, 
and especially against God ; and if 
she could not quite succeed, she might 
at least have had the satisfaction 
which arises from the consciousness 
of having done her best. Perhaps, 
however, she might have done more 
than this. Perhaps she might, in the 
language of the apostle James, have 
" saved a soul from death, and hidden 
a multitude of sins." 

I have alluded, and barely alluded, 
to the nature of true friendship, es- 
pecially that which subsists between 



ANANIAS AND SAPPI1IRA. 51 

the nearest and dearest relations. I 
do not, of course, mean to say such as 
always exists between such relations ; 
for most unhappily some who bear the 
name of husband and wife, and parent 
and child, and brother and sister, do 
not deserve to be called friends. It 
is one thing to be called friends, but 
quite another thing to show ourselves 
truly friendly. 

It is no part of true friendship to 
suffer those who are near and dear to 
us to pursue their plans when we 
know them to be wicked, without so 
much as a single remonstrance. "We 
should leave nothing undone which it 
is in our power to do, to prevent them 
from taking the proposed wrong step. 
No matter whether their conduct, as 
they propose it, is to be seen by the 
world or not, if it is what is obviously 



52 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

wrong; for though it should escape 
the eye of the world, it cannot escape 
the all-seeing eye of God. Besides, 
the Christian system is essentially a 
do-right system ; and they who mean 
to be truly friendly, on Christian prin- 
ciples, must do all in their power to 
prevent their friends from doing, say- 
ing, and thinking wrong. Beyond 
this, even, must they go. They must 
do all in their power to induce those 
with whom they are on terms of inti- 
macy to do right. Above all, must 
they avoid the awful conduct of Sap- 
phira, who joined in the very crimes 
which her husband proposed, and thus 
aided and assisted in bringing down 
upon both him and herself the awful 
judgments of offended Heaven. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 53 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HYPOCRISY OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

Ananias and Sapphira were profes- 
sing Christians. They had pledged 
themselves to hate father and mother, 
and wife and children, and houses and 
lands, yea, and their own lives also, 
rather than give up the cause of Christ. 
In other words, they had pledged 
themselves to give up the former, 
whenever their enjoyment came in 
the way of the enjoyment of the latter. 

But as in early times, they were not 
all Israel who were of Israel, so in 
later times they are not all Christ's 
who are of Christ, I mean by profes- 
sion. It is one thing to put on the 
appearance, externally, of being the 
disciple of Christ, and quite another 



54 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

thing to be really and truly his. One 
thing more is to be observed here. 
None are more careful, as a general 
fact, to put on the externals of religion, 
than they who are conscious of being 
destitute of its spirit. 

Such, it is quite obvious, were 
Ananias and Sapphira. They had 
that love of the world which is in- 
compatible with the love of God; 
and they knew it. And yet so strong 
was their attachment to the world, its 
property, I mean, that they could not 
and would not relinquish it. To make 
up, therefore, for that internal confor- 
mity to God which I have said they 
must have been conscious they need- 
ed, they were exceedingly careful to 
put on the appearance of a high de- 
gree of conformity externally. While 
many were selling off a part of their 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 55 

possessions, and some perhaps all, 
and depositing the money they re- 
ceived in a common treasury, without 
the thought of reserving anything to 
themselves, Ananias and Sapphira 
undertook to have the name of giving 
up all, and yet in reality retain some- 
thing. So they sold all they had, at 
least I think so; and then, taking 
only a part of the money, they placed 
it at the feet of the apostles, and told 
thern it was all they received for the 
land. 

This, I say again, was to secure 
the credit, Judas-like, of being Christ's 
without crucifying in the smallest 
degree their affections and lusts. It 
was to deceive men, those around 
them, into the belief of that which 
was not true. It was to play the 
hypocrite. 



56 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

Now there are few crimes which 
offend God more than hypocrisy. 
In the days of our Saviour there 
were few, if any 7 crimes, that called 
out his terrible denunciations more 
quickly. And in the great day of ac- 
count, few things, it is believed, will 
be the occasion of a more fearful 
doom. 

When, therefore, we add to the 
other crimes of Ananias and Sapphira 
those of perverted and abused friend- 
ship, concurrence in crime, and deep 
and awful hypocrisy, is it any wonder 
that they were cut down in a moment 
as cumberers of the ground, and made 
among the most awful spectacles of 
transgression and shame that the 
world ever saw ? 

Let tis, however, take warning. 
Are there no Ananiases and Sapphiras 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 57 

among us? Are there none in the 
Christian church of modern days who 
endeavour to pass current as disciples 
of Christ, when they know almost as 
well as God does, that they are none 
of his ? 



CHAPTER IX. 

SATANIC AGENCY. 

It is becoming quite fashionable, 
in these days, to deny that there is 
any such thing as a personal devil. 
Satan or devil, they say, is only a 
personification of all that is evil, a 
term used for the special accommoda- 
tion of children and young persons, 
and perchance some children of larger 
grow T th. 

But these persons seem to forget 
that by the same rule of reasoning 



58 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

away a personal devil, they might go 
a little further, and reason away a 
personal Deity. Indeed, this is ex- 
actly the point to which many among 
us are tending, and to which not a 
few have already arrived. They who 
admit the one doctrine, should re- 
member that they are but a step from 
the admission of the other. 

Besides, it ought not to be lost sight 
of that they who throw aside as child- 
ish the belief in the personality of an 
evil spirit or devil, are at the same 
time setting aside a doctrine of the 
Holy Scriptures. I might quote whole 
pages of texts from this divine book 
to show that there is not only one 
principal evil spirit, usually called by 
way of eminence the devil or Satan ; 
but as there are numerous good spirits 
or angels under one principal good 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 59 

being called God, so there are numer- 
ous evil spirits or devils. Even Mil- 
ton, who was not over careful to keep 
very close to the Bible, admits that 

" Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, 
Unseen, both when we wake and while we sleep ; 
These execute their airy purposes, 
And works of love and enmity fulfil." 

But to come back to Ananias and 
Sapphira, for I cannot well go into a 
laboured discussion of this subject. 
There is here particular notice of a 
personal agent, the devil or Satan, 
from the mouth of Peter himself: 
"Why hath Satan filled thine heart," 
says he to Ananias, "to lie to the 
Holy Ghost, and to keep back part 
of the price of the land ?" 

Did not Peter believe in the exist- 
ence and oft-repeated presence of a 
personal evil agent? Or was he 
talking about what he knew had no 



60 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

existence except in the distempered 
imaginations of mankind? Could he 
so impose upon the world as to 
encourage, a belief which he did not 
himself entertain ? 

If there was ever an honest man, 
that man was Peter. Of this I am 
satisfied, from his whole history. I 
do not say he was faultless, neither 
does the Bible. But I do affirm, 
with boldness, that what he said he 
meant. He did not talk about an 
agency which he did not believe in; 
nor speak off a person— one who went 
about like a roaring lion, seeking 
whom he might devour — when he 
meant no such thing, but only a per- 
sonification of that which was evil. 
But Peter only used, in this respect, the 
language of inspired men generally, 
and of his and their divine Master. 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 61 

Satan is represented by Peter as 
having filled the heart of Ananias, 
This is to invert the order of things 
with him at the first. It was Eve he 
first assailed in Eden, not Adam. 
Here he made his attack on Ananias 
first. It is not said whether or not he 
assailed Sapphira afterward, but who 
can doubt it? Is it possible, was it 
ever possible, for woman, constituted 
as she is, to become so much like a 
demon as Sapphira was without de- 
moniac agency? 



CHAPTER X. 

RESISTING THE DEVIL. 



The heart of Ananias was the point 
at which Satan made his attack; pro- 
bably because he knew that to be, 
in this particular case, the most vul- 



62 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

nerable. He sometimes fills the mind 
rather than the heart; at others his 
influences are directed first to the 
body. Man, like his Maker, is a 
trinity, made up of body, soul, and 
spirit. Each requires to be guarded. 

And each of them may be guarded 
against him. For this we have Scrip- 
ture encouragement. "'Resist the 
devil, and he will flee from you," is 
one of its numerous promises. Do 
we believe it, and are we governing 
ourselves accordingly? 

This encouragement to resist the 
devil is particularly applicable to the 
young. For some reason or other, 
Satan is exceedingly inclined to make 
his attacks on the young; perhaps 
because they are less wary and sus- 
pecting. Of the old, moreover, he has 
less hope, because their habits being 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 63 

already formed, they are less likely 
to be active in his service. But by 
getting possesion of the young — their 
bodies, minds, and spirits — while they 
are yet unformed, he hopes to mould 
them the better to his particular ser- 
vices. 

Some will be apt to make the in- 
quiry — when young I used to make 
it myself — how are we to know when 
Satan is attempting to lure us — to 
fill our hearts, as he did the heart of 
Ananias — or to poison our minds, and 
excite unduly or distemper our bodies ? 
How are we to distinguish between 
his temptations, and the perverse in- 
clinations of our own bosoms? 

My reply to such inquiries as these 
is, that I do not know, in the first 
place, that it makes any practical 
difference whether the temptation, 



64 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

when we are tempted, comes from 
without or from within, whether it is 
the device of Satan, or the perverse 
movement of our own hearts. If we 
feel a desire to do that which we 
know to be wrong, there is always a 
possibility that Satan may have some- 
thing to do with it. 

Satan, who is a spirit^ contrives, no 
doubt, to work with our spirits. When 
we take the first thought, or the first 
step, in wrong, Satan, or some one of 
his tribe, is at hand to help us on still 
deeper into that wrong thinking, or 
wrong acting. Just as when we 
have a good thought, or determine on 
a good action, God, or some good 
spirit of his, is ever ready to help us 
forward in that way. 

True it is, we cannot always tell 
how far our evil thoughts, evil desires, 



r 
ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 65 

or evil actions, are our own, and how 
far they are the doing of Satan; but 
it may not be important that we should 
know. Indeed, it is very possible that 
Satan sometimes does his work not 
so much by putting any new thoughts 
or desires into our minds or our hearts, 
as by strengthening our own. In the 
case of Ananias it is by no means 
certain that any new thought or new 
feeling was presented or suggested by 
Satan. Perhaps he only acted in such 
a way as to excite or urge him on to 
do that which he was already strongly 
inclined to do. 

One thing at any rate we may be 
sure of, whether we are young' or old, 
it is, that there is no safety in thinking, 
speaking, or doing wrong, no not for 
a single moment. We should, from 
the first, resist it. Then, whether or 



66 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

not Satan is concerned in it, we are 
safe; at least if we resist strongly 
enough. Strong as Satan may be, 
and no doubt is, he has no power to 
compel us to do wrong against our 
strong determination not to do it. 
Resist the devil, and he will flee. 
Resist evil thoughts, whether Satan is 
helping the matter on or not, and they 
will soon disappear. Or if we find 
them getting too strong for us, we 
may and should pray for divine aid in 
the contest. The Spirit of God, by 
himself, or by some angel or spirit 
whom he deputes for that purpose, is 
always ready to succour or assist 
those who are tempted. "Ask and 
ye shall receive." 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 67 



CHAPTER XL 

EFFECTS OF THE PUNISHMENT OF ANANIAS AND 

SAPPHIRA. 

We are told that great fear came 
upon all who heard the sad story of 
Ananias and his sudden death. And 
then, when his wife was struck down 
in the same manner, the same state- 
ment is repeated with additions : "And 
great fear c^rne upon all the church, 
and upon as many as heard these 
things." 

There are two sorts of fear. One 
may be called a good fear, and the 
other a bad fear. One is the fear of 
God; the other is a slavish or wicked 
fear, a fear of evil or punishment. 

With some among us, I know it is 
becoming fashionable to contemn fear 
altogether. They think its influence 



68 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

in every instance is injurious. They 
even quote Scripture in defence of 
their opinions. They say that "fear 
hath torment/' and that the world has 
been under the influence of fear quite 
too long already. It is high time that 
it should be governed by love, as the 
Creator intended. It is high time that 
punishment, and the fear of punish- 
ment, were abandoned. 

Now there is something very spe- 
cious in all this, especially as it strikes 
the young and inexperienced. At 
any rate, it struck me very pleasantly 
when I was young. Indeed, I am not 
sure but its very speciousness deceives 
some older people, especially those 
who advocate the doctrine. 

I have said that there are two sorts 
of fear, a good and a bad sort. The 
latter I am even now willing should 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 69 

be cast off, whether by love or in some 
other way. It never did much good, 
I fear. I mean now- a mere dread of 
evil, on account of the evil itself. 
This is what I call a slavish fear. 

But there is in the world, sometimes 
mingled with the other sort of fear, 
sometimes by itself, a fear of offending 
those whom we love. This fear is 
quite a different thing, so it seems to 
me, from the mere dread of pain. A 
child should fear to offend a good 
parent, whether the parent will be 
likely to punish him or not. In like 
manner we should all fear to offend 
God; not merely because he can 
punish us, as he did Ananias, and 
because he probably will do it; but 
because he is lovely as well as just, 
and because we are unwilling to give 
him pain by our ill conduct. 



r -« 



70 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

The fear which fell upon the early 
church when they heard of the fall 
and punishment of Ananias and Sap- 
phira— whether wholly of the latter 
sort, or partly of that and partly of the 
other — was, I have no doubt, greatly 
needed, and greatly salutary. They 
saw by it how holy God was, and 
how fixed he was in his determination 
to put down sin, and keep under and 
overthrow Satan. It led them to 
greater care and watchfulness, lest, 
like Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira, 
they should themselves fall away, and 
dishonour God and his cause, and 
bring upon themselves his displeasure 
in some form or other. 

As to the fear which fell upon the 
world beyond or out of the church, 
the five thousand, it is more doubtful 
as to its good effects. Perhaps there 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 71 

are some to whom the fear of a ter- 
rible bodily punishment, if they cannot 
be brought to a higher and nobler 
fear, is quite useful and salutary. 
Perhaps there would be more Judases 
and Ananiases than there now are, 
were it not for its influence. I mean, 
rather, that there might be in the 
world more outbreakings of an evil 
heart, were it not for this fear. Judas 
was a bad man, and had long been so 
— a lover of money — before he be- 
trayed the Saviour. So with Ananiasv 
He was an avaricious man long before 
he undertook to lie to the Holy Spirit 
of God. 

In conclusion, let us all endeavour 
to work out our salvation with fear 
and trembling. I do not believe we 
are any of us likely to be injured by 
the fear of offending God, or even 



72 ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 

of suffering the just punishment of 
breaking and trampling upon his holy 
laws. Let us not be high-minded, 
but humble, fearful, careful, watchful. 
Let us look out against the first steps 
in wrong, whether of wrong thinking, 
speaking, or acting. These are the 
points at which we should set the 
strongest and most effective guard. 
Let us fear lest Satan be found, here, 
above all, filling our hearts to cause 
us to sin like Ananias, if not to go 
like him to sure, swift, and terrible 
destruction. 



THE END 



-v 



1* 



